https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/07/nba...tent=home-hero
In this article I've linked above, a freelance sport writer for USA Today, Charles Curtis (based in New York, of course), seems to think the best solution for tampering in the NBA is to get rid of the tampering rules altogether. He applauds Sam Presti for saying small market teams have to find new and creative ways to be compe ive, and then points to two examples of this in action...Indiana and Salt Lake City...two teams that, oddly enough, haven't done sh!t when it comes to actually hoisting the O'Brien trophy. He doesn't even acknowledge the ultimate small market franchise, the San Antonio Spurs, and how the model of small market franchises has been completely compromised by collusion and the lack of enforceable and equitable rules now for the second consecutive off season. This article absolutely pissed me off because you realize immediately he gives a royal " you" to basically 20+ franchises when suggesting his "solution" to the issue. weed. The fact that his stuff gets into print by USA Today, and makes the front page of MSN.com is mind boggling to be quite honest. It's the ultimate in "let them eat cake" article when referring to the plight of mid- and small market teams and their fan bases, and how the disparity between these markets and major markets should be handled.
The fact that no significant free agent move this off season involved ANY small or mid-market team landing a major free agent signing should be a clear sign of a problem, and this issue is likely going to be the new norm, unless something changes in a major way. If players and agents can collude and form super teams, that trend won't stop, and their choice of venue will ALWAYS be a major destination. Would two superstars choose to team up in Oklahoma City, Charlotte, or Memphis versus a playing together in a major market city? Los Angeles and New York (New Jersey) should win almost every top signing sweepstakes when we're talking about young superstar millionaires teaming up to win les who have the world at their fingertips. LA and New York are the dream destination for these guys...the equivalent of the super hot model that everyone wants to date. Cities like Houston, Dallas, Boston, and Miami? Those would also qualify as attractive cities, just somewhat less so, and for different reasons...these equate to the 30-40 year old MILF, not deep on substance, but with a ton of cash and a hot bod. San Francisco you ask? Yeah, it can continue to be attractive...as long as the winning holds up. But once the body of winning gets saggy...well, it's over. We'll check in on you in another 40 years, Golden State. And as for our beloved San Antonio? Even if we have cap space I'm fairly certain we won't be able to do much with it beyond a hope to create some loyalty with our own development, and, best case, retain our own players. The Spurs weren't a major free agent draw when we were winning 60 games a year, and I don't expect that to change. In this dating/appeal scenario, we've been that badass female who knew herself, exuded supreme confidence, maybe not possessing the external features that draw in the superficial, but was a winner that anyone of character would be naturally attracted to, and we were smart enough to keep those close to us happy and satisfied for the most part. As for the rest of the NBA?? ed...and not literally. They're the single old lady virgin with a house full of cats, wearing hair covered sweaters and smelling like urine.
The solution to all of this mess won't come from ignoring the problem, or simply removing the rule because, well, no one pays attention to it anyway.
Again, off Charles Curtis. The solution is creating a scenario that is enforceable. Restructure the damn CBA if you have to, and put hard rules in place. Then, get a commissioner that cares more for the league and all of its member cities than he cares about a limited number of markets, and the glee of building social media buzz in the off season. Adam Silver in the hot girl scenario plays the cuckold, an idiot standing idly by with a stupid smile on his face while his wife is breaking every rule imaginable simply because she wants to. "I guess if she's happy" he'll utter to himself, shortly before putting a shotgun in his mouth and pulling the trigger with his toe.
Anyway...I digress. A lot of us remember baseball in the late '90s and early 2000s, when the MLB was enamored by the plethora of home run production from its players, and the attention their league was getting from guys rewriting a century's worth of record-books. Attendance soared, and baseball had a social "buzz" it hadn't experienced in years. Unfortunately, all of that excitement came crashing down to earth when the focus later shifted to the steroid scandal, and the fact that that league blatantly ignored its own rules. The long term effect was that the league lost a lot of it's long-time, purist fan base, and most of the fly-by-night bandwagon fans who jumped on during the long-ball era moved on to their next distraction as soon a baseballs weren't jumping out of the yard. Since that time attendance for the sport has been on a steady decline in the majority of its markets, and appears to be on course to suffer a slow painful death without a major restructuring. With 162 game seasons, and over 150 years of existence, the league could wallow in its own filth for another 25 years before its death becomes imminent, but I believe it's coming.
For the NBA, ignoring the needs of the majority of its markets to be compe ive creates a very real long-term risk of alienating entire portions of the country and creating a similar result to what happened with MLB. I've lived in Phoenix for several years, and in that time I have attended three times as many NBA games in other cities than I do there, and really, I only attend a home game if the opponent is worth buying a ticket for...not to watch the home team. While Phoenix's issues are due more to poor ownership and management than anything else, this same lethargic fanbase result will play itself out in 20+ or so other NBA arenas if all fans in these outer markets get every year is an average to poor product to be asked to support. Casual fans (non-NBA diehards like myself) will turn away from the sport in droves and the league will ultimately suffer. Fans are smarter than they were during the large market dominant era of the 1970s and '80s. Fans now have more entertainment choices and often a budget that doesn't include hundreds to thousands of dollars to attend basketball games to watch losing clubs. Even teams like the Spurs, as hard as they work to stay attractive, will ultimately lose their luster if they continually get punched in the mouth losing out on even mid-tier free agents without any recourse or opportunity to capitalize on their winning formula.
So Adam Silver, if you have a brain, and a soul, and a back bone, ignore guys like Charles Curtis, and run this league like a man with integrity...not a spineless little yes man.